In Part One, I asked who would be the next breakout player in the NBA. Today, I take the microscope to the NBA’s other fifteen teams.
Miami Heat: Norris Cole
Don’t expect anyone to have a pure breakout year with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and Ray Allen in the line-up.
Norris is the backup with starting point guard Mario Chalmers, however showed that he has the arsenal to move up on the depth chart. The no second-year player out of Cleveland State has proved to be valuable pick up late in the draft.
Watch his game (where he scored 20-points) against the Boston Celtics and Rajon Rondo and you’ll understand why I selected Cole and not Chalmers.
Milwaukee Bucks: Brandon Jennings
Jennings posted career-high points-per-game (19.1) average last season and was the Bucks second-best scorer. Yet, he is the one whom has significant upside.
Jennings shot poorly from outside and inside however he has youth on his side. He will need to improve otherwise Jennings may end up being trade bait.
Minnesota Timberwolves: Alexey Shved
If you watched Shved at the London Olympics you’ll know how good this Russian 23-year-old is.
The mature-aged rookie can flat out play – he can hit the long jumper, uses the ball very well and is athletic at 6’6’’.
New Orleans Hornets: Greivis Vasquez
Vasquez remains the only true point guard on the Hornets’ roster however he may be pushed into a backup role when New Orleans move Austin Rivers into the lineup and try and convert him into playing the one spot.
The Venezuelan improved last season from his sound rookie year and again, improvement is expected. If the Rivers gamble doesn’t pay dividends, Vasquez will be the beneficiary.
New York Knicks: Iman Shumpert
Name another player who will have a break out season on the Knicks team: Shumpert is the only guy. Jeremy Lin and Kyle Landry are gone and J.R. Smith isn’t the most reliable player, thus the 6’5’’ guard out of Georgia Tech will likely be in the starting roster come mid-season.
In his first season in the pros, Shumpert delivered decent stats both as a starter and when coming off the bench for a rookie in the same line-up as Carmelo Anthony, Amare Stoudamire and Lin. Defensively and rebounding, Shumpert is a solid contributor and will only improve.
Oklahoma City Thunder: Serge Ibaka
The Brazilian has much upside and we can expect to see improvement in Ibaka’s game. Defensively, Ibaka is very strong and is right up there when it comes to most blocks per 40-minutes.
It’s on the offense end where Ibaka could dominate. He is a decent shot from the field and a highly effective finisher at the rim. With Perry Jones coming off the bench, Ibaka may just learn a lot in mentoring the rookie.
Orlando Magic: Gustavo Ayon
The Magic is set for a pretty bad season after losing Dwight Howard. There are three players I like however: Arron Afflalo, rookie Andrew Nicholson (had a very good summer league) and thirdly, the big Mexican Gustavo Ayon.
In his first season coming off the Hornets’ bench, Ayon averaged 5.9ppg, 4.9rpg and 0.9bpg. In 17-minutes against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Ayon dropped 16-points; against the San Antonio Spurs, he scored eight points, pulled down 13-rebounds and recorded five assists. The 27-year old can play.
Philadelphia 76ers: Andrew Bynum
This is the former Lakers big man’s team now. There isn’t any Kobe Bryant to rely on. The ball will be run Bynum every time down the floor. I don’t need to tell you how good he is.
Watch his numbers soar beyond 20ppg and 15rpg this season. Let’s just hope he isn’t sitting as much as he plays.
Phoenix Suns: Goran Dragic
The 2012-13 NBA season will make it Dragic’s third stint with the Suns. It will also be his best year.
The fifth-year guard put up career high numbers in 2011-12 after starting 28 of the 66 games played. Dragic must work on his turnover rate and his foul rate – both are unacceptable at present.
On the flipside, he is a good shot, athletic, has great size and is aggressive. Big watch this year.
Portland Trailblazers: Damian Lillard
My one to watch in the NBA Draft, Lillard will either win the Rookie of The Year award or finish second. He had a huge summer league playing akin to Derrick Rose.
Sacramento Kings: DeMarcus Cousins
A mature, consistent and in-shape Cousins could make him the dominant centre in the game. In just his second season in 2011-12, Cousins produced 18.1ppg, 10.9rpg, 1.2bpg and 1.6apg: big numbers and think about this, he doesn’t get much help from the guards – he makes his own shots.
If Cousins puts it all together, he will tower above this league for years.
San Antonio Spurs: Patrick Mills (also watch Kawhi Leonard)
Patty had a very good Olympics that followed his sound performance in 16-games last NBA season. Mills will come off the bench when Tony Parker takes a rest: when he gets his time on court he must be aggressive while watching his handle on the ball. With assistant coach Brett Brown on the Spurs bench, Patty will get his chance.
The other player to keep an eye on is Leonard – a very skilled forward whom delivered respectable numbers last season. Leonard is one of my favourite non All-Star players to watch. Can play the three spot and four, however best at the three.
Toronto Raptors: Jonas Valanciunas
The 6’11”, 105kg big man from Utena, Lithuania will start in his first season in the NBA (selected fifth overall in the 2011 draft) after his now former club Lietuvos Rytas didn’t allow him to join the Raptors until the 2012-13.
The 19-year old Valanciunas has proven to basketball viewers that he is a strong rebounder who can get to the ring and draw plenty of fouls. He will do well in his rookie year however the learning experience from playing on the world’s best centers will be enormous and highly valuable.
The only question, how quickly will it take him to be named in his first All-Star game?
Utah Jazz: Derrick Favors
This is one man I want to see more of on the court. Favors finished his third-year in the NBA with 8.8ppg, 6.5rpg and 1.0bpg from an average of 21.3mpg.
The 6’10” third overall pick in the 2010 draft was part of the Deron Williams to New Jersey trade in 2011. Favors played just one college season – he was named ACC Rookie of The Year and to the ACC All-Freshman Team.
Defensively, Favors is powerful and will make an All-Defensive Team several times during his time in the pros. He does however need to watch and work on his committing of fouls: that is an area greatly affecting his playing time.
On the other end, he has to develop his skills in the post, but he has time on his side.
Washington Wizards: Bradley Beal
I can’t wait to see Beal suit up for Washington. With John Wall running the point and Nene and Emeka Okafor (two unselfish big men) down low, Beal is going to see the ball coming to him a great deal when open. This Florida Gators star can flat out stroke the ball from a long way out (think Ray Allen).
He is going to be a go to guy, especially when late in the game, to take the pressure of Wall. One intangible we’ll see is the positive impact he will have on Wall (think LeBron James and Dwyane Wade).
Beal will be a star in this league for many years.
claude
Guest
I hope there wont be another one of these for 2013/14. Listing high draft picks is redundant because everyone expects them to do well (Irving/griffin etc) , ditto for players who had already had their breakout season (Ibaka/Cousins etc) so the piece offers nothing new for anyone. If the other guys you mentioned had reasonable seasons you might have a leg to stand on, however half of them were total busts. So what do we have in retrospect. A list of players everyone expected to do well and did, a list of young guys who did ok, and a list of young guys who did nothing. I dont see what the point of this piece is other then for some guy to randomly speculate on players...i dont get it, unless the point is to sabotage people researching for their NBA Fantasy leagues, in which case its a good list.
c
Guest
kyle lowry
mushi
Guest
If Shump gets put at third in the rotation behind a corpse and a guy who barely produced in the most PG friendly system well then there's your knicks right there.
mushi
Guest
Unless the wolves figure out a way to grow body parts Roy is who he is. A guy who was once great who now has the capacity to blow up every now and again but his body won't let him play consistently. I don't see how his game fits either. He's a ball handler not a shooter or finisher
ChrisCantatore
Roar Rookie
I agree with the majority of players in the article. The ones I would differ on are: Timberwolves: Brandon Roy. There might not be a more 'watched player' than Roy in 2012-13. Not that he is going to turn the Wolves into an instant contender- it's just that if Rubio comes back healthy, Love has another consistant year, Kirilenko produces something half decent then Roy becomes the X factor in this team. Roy is one of those players with all the potential in the world and injury runied him early on- I think all eyes will be on him this season. Suns: Michael Beasly, Another guy with a load of potentital that has gone unfulfilled for different reasons to Roy. The Heat parted with him, The Wolves parted with him- this is his last chance to make something of himself. He needs to establish himself as a leader on this team.
mushi
Guest
It seems like the back end fo the Alphabet is a little more predictable with many of these teams only really having one option. Blazers Not sure about the Lillard / Rose comparisons based on summer league play. Rose was horrendous in summer league with Beasley shining. Not saying Lillard can’t make it but extrapolating out summer league just does not work. Otherwise Beasley would be FAR superior player to Rose and we’d have the likes of Randy Foye and Marco Bellinelli ripping apart the league right now. Twolves Shved. He can shoot but unfortunately he’s also a bit of a stiff. If Rubio is running the point this will be a huge problem as Rubio showed in Europe he doesn’t play well with stiff spot up shooters. I’d think either a genuine breakout by Rubio or Pek is the best bet here. Jazz Have the same concerns as I did for George. In the milsap/Jefferson front court where are the minutes coming from for the break out year. Both of those guys are 30 plus a night (if you’re trying to win). Personally I’d call the pacers and ask about a granger – millsap swap. Then favours has the minutes to grow. OKC Right guy but I think it is actually defence. Ibaka is actually a bad man defender. He’s a great help defender using his athleticism but he’s also constantly out of position and unable to do as much to deter the guy he’s got a body on. He needs to be able to lock in on other teams PF/Cs or the thunder are going to have to keep going to Perkins as a low post defender. Also they need him to be able to guard Bron if they want to blanket the heat. PHI Picking nits but this is Evan Turners last chance. Now as the point wing on the team he can either say I’ve got this or they need to look elsewhere. A sleeper for fantasy leagues also with high upside compared to previous production. Was I’d go Wall. Beal still seems to be a plan in the making. If the rest of the team can execute and Wall can slow down the rate he plays the game his numbers will got through the roof.
Alfred Chan
Expert
For me Jason Kidd is the one to watch at the Knicks. By signing a 39yo PG, the front office must be adamant that Melo/Stoudemire/Chandler can get take the Knicks all the way with an established PG. Shumpert will start the season as the third PG behind Kidd and Raymond Felton.
Cam Larkin
Roar Guru
Any input in terms of players to watch?
Cam Larkin
Roar Guru
I looked at Ando a lot - Gordon is expected to have a big year. Enjoy reading your comments on players you think.
Cam Larkin
Roar Guru
Yep, good pick up, my error there - had another player on my mind.
Alfred Chan
Expert
Who the heck is Kyle Landry? I think you meant Landry Fields. And as mentioned earlier, Ibaka is Spanish/Congolese, not Brazilian.
ChrisCantatore
Roar Rookie
There are number of other New Orleans Hornets we should be watching more than Greivis Vasquez. Ryan Anderson, Robin Lopez and Eric Gordon are three of them. If Lopez and Gordon have big years, combined with Davis and Rivers- throw in Ryan Anderson doing what he did in Orlando for the past couple of seasons and the Hornets become a playoff team in the West. Anderson and Lopez would be my 'ones to watch'. If Al-Farouq Aminu can keep getting better this is going to be a good team to watch in 2012-13.
Peter Poon
Guest
Ibaka is a Spanish national from the Republic of the Congo...not Brazilian. Otherwise enjoyable read.